


Watch Out for Snakes

by toribeari



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brief Stiles/OMC, Co-Alphas Derek and Scott, Everyone Is Alive, M/M, Multi, Oblivious Stiles, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pack Bonding, Post-Season/Series 03B, Stiles tires to stealth court derek, Valentine's Day, courting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-25
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-15 01:35:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3433160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toribeari/pseuds/toribeari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1/29 10:50: <em>Scotty, you are a genius.</em></p><p>Scott 1/29 10:51p:<strong> ;) I know.</strong></p><p>Scott 1/29 10:52p: <strong>Why am I a genius?</strong></p><p>1/29 10:53p: <em>I’m going to court Derek.</em></p><p>Scott 1/29 10:55p:<strong> Um, that’s not what I said dude.</strong><br/>Scott 1/29 10:56p: <strong>Also, what?</strong><br/>Scott 1/29 10:58p:<strong> Stiles…Stiles what are you doing right now?</strong><br/>Scott 1/29 11:00p: <strong>Stiles, dude, answer me. This is Defgate 6 or whatever.</strong></p>
            </blockquote>





	Watch Out for Snakes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Starrie_Wolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starrie_Wolf/gifts), [Swlfangirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swlfangirl/gifts).



> For Starrie Wolf for her Valentines Day Gift
> 
> Thank you for being so patient with me. I've started to feel better -yay medicine -and the rest of the parts will be up later this week.
> 
> Hope you don't mind that I brought everyone back to life. Like you asked, no underage Stiles. Also, please ignore that it's February and they're not in school. 
> 
> Quick warnings for this chapter:  
> There's brief mention of Adderall abuse: Stiles uses an extra pill while planning. It's not excessive, and only mentioned briefly, but it happens. 
> 
> Note:  
> Scott and Derek are co-alphas, because I think it makes more sense. Plus, imagine all that character development that could have happened if they were co-alphas. Pack is still called the Hale pack in respect for Derek's family, who had claim to the territory first, and to keep other packs from learning about Scott and his awesome true alpha status until he's ready. 
> 
> Story and Chapter titles are from MST3K episodes.

Today was the day.

After months of bothering Allison, Stiles was finally getting a copy of the Bestiary.

He’s waiting by the door impatiently when Allison finally shows up at his front door around 11p.m. When Stiles whips the door open before she has a chance to knock, Allison raises an eyebrow at him, and her outstretched hand that was ready to knock on the door falls to her side. The hand holding the Bestiary pulls back slightly, but Stiles is already reaching for the book; before she can hide it behind her back, he’s grabbed it and tucked it close to his chest.

“Thanks boyfriend’s girlfriend,” Stiles smiles at her, clutching the book protectively against his chest.

Allison scrunches her nose at him. “I’m already regretting agreeing to give you this.”

Stiles ignores her and stares down at the book, slowly petting the front cover.

He’s been _excited_ , and trying to wait _patiently,_ ok? No one is allowed to judge him right now.

Allison eyes him warily, her lips pulling down into a frown. “Please don’t do anything…weird or stupid with the book.”

Stiles squints at Allison and then the book. “Why? What does the book have in it that I could do something stupid with?”

“Stiles, I swear, I’ll take it back,” Allison says, moving as if to take the book back. Stiles jumps backwards, turning his back to her and hunching possessively over the book.

“Ok, I promise! Just don’t take the precious away.”

Allison laughs and backs up. “Just, be careful? It’s not a glossary with pictures. There’s a lot of supernatural history in that book.”

“What the fuck do you think I’m going to do with it? Jack off on it while looking at pictures of trolls? Tear the pages out and roll joints? Make ‘Your Mama’ jokes in the margins?”

Allison doesn’t respond. Instead, she blank-faces him and turns to head down the Stilinski driveway.

“Wait, Allison! You don’t think I’ll actually do something like that, right? Dude’s dudette? Ally?”

Allison waves over her shoulder and climbs into her car.

Stiles glares after her and the closes the door. He looks down at the book and turned to a random page that appears to be about the birthing rituals of Dryads.

Ok, he may or may not do the ‘Your Mama’ joke thing. But hey, if young monks-to-be can draw dudes being impaled by super penises and nuns worshipping a penis tree, he can write spiffy one liners in the margins. Especially when it says shit like “on virgin territory”.

\---

Allison had been kind enough to bookmark the sections covering the history of Weres, each species a different colored post-it note.

Werewolf, Werecoyote, Werejaguar, Kanima subgroup, Were…Weredeer?

Stiles stopped and looked at the entry. Yes, that was definitely the word Weredeer.

Yanking his. out of his pocket, Stiles writes up a text to Derek:

_1/28 11:05p: Dude, what the fuck, there are Weredeer? How do they change people? DO THEY STAB THEM WITH THEIR HORNS? I am not ok with that type of horny._

Stiles sent the text and then scanned through the entry. Apparently it wasn’t a brutal mauling with deer antlers that started the change. It was being bitten by a Weredeer alpha –called a stag –that’s in human form. _Ugh_.

He starts wondering what Weredeer fights look like. He’s imagining two bambi look-alikes head-butting each other into submission like two drunken frat-boys. He’s laughing when he goes to search buck fights.

He’s very, very wrong. When he’s sufficiently horrified, he checks his phone to find a message from Derek.

 

Derek 1/28 11:45p: **Deer have antlers. Idiot.**

Derek 1/28 11:46p: **I’m assuming you have the Bestiary?**

 

Stiles rolls his eyes. He sometimes forgets how _charming_ Derek is.

1/28 11:55p: _Yup. But seriously, Weredeer, dude. That’s like, super random. Why deer?_

 

Derek 1/28 11:56p: **Why Kanima? Or Jaguar?**

 

1/28 12:00a: _It’s still weird af._

 

Derek 1/29 12:02a: **Go to sleep Stiles. Bring the book over tomorrow.**

 

1/29 12:03a: _Will do, El Capitan. Night_

Stiles tosses his phone onto his desk and powers down his computer. If he’s going to have to deal with Derek tomorrow, he’s going to need a full night’s sleep.

\---

It’s not that Stiles hates Derek. It’s not that Derek is even remotely annoying. It’s that, somewhere down the line, Derek stopped being big bad alpha man and turned into someone Stiles wanted to send photos of Isaac getting his scarves caught in shit to. Derek became someone that Stiles wanted to talk to whenever he was bored. Before, that position had always been held by Scott. But now, Derek is slowly becoming Stiles’ go-to boredom cure.

And the thing is, Derek doesn’t seem to mind. He’ll respond to Stiles’s pictures of Isaac with pictures of people doing stupid shit around Beacon Hills –like a woman tying her leashed kid to a pole while she talks to one of her friends. When Stiles gets bored, he’ll ask Stiles to come over to either the loft to figure out what nearby packs they could ask for an alliance; or he’ll have stiles go to the Old Hale house, where he uses Stiles as free labor.

When Stiles is having a hard time sleeping after everything the Nogitsune made him think he did –after  all the things he still dreams he did –Derek  shows up in Stiles’s bedroom and watches MST3K with him until Stiles eventually passes out on him. Sometimes Derek stays until the morning, slipping out the window just as Stiles opens his eyes.

Basically, Derek stopped treating Stiles like an annoying nuisance and more like someone who he wants to spend time with. _Quality_ time. You don’t just ask an annoying pest to come into your house and help you restore your old home. You help them get through the night when they can’t sleep. You, maybe, let them eat your food every now and then at pack meetings.

It’s really Derek’s fault that Stiles has to focus all of his energy on not getting a feelings boner. Every time Derek laughs at Stiles dropping something on himself at the construction site, Stiles has to focus on keeping his heart even, making sure he doesn’t exude _fond as fuck_ toward Derek.  When Derek eventually strips his shirt off because he’s too hot –ha –Stiles has to threaten his boner with the mental image of Finstock and Harris, both in lingerie, _slow boning_ to get it to settle down.

So the next day, when Stiles shows up at the loft with the Bestiary in tow, he gives a stern mental talking-to to his dick, and then his fucking heart, and finally his fucking brain. Derek can’t deal with feelings; they’re his own special wolf-y kryptonite. Stiles just wants to force these emotions out of his system, because he’s got too much on his mind already without worrying about constantly making sure he’s not suffocating Derek with his feelings.

After a minute of his silent, threatening self-directed pep-talk, Stiles looks up and sees a sweaty, shirtless Derek standing on his balcony, staring down at Stile like he’s an idiot. When he catches Stiles’ eye, Derek shakes his head and goes back inside, waving a hand behind him to beckon Stiles inside.

Stiles’s mind conjures up –without his permission –a sweaty Derek beckoning for Stiles to come inside something other than the loft, and Stiles slaps himself. Hard. He whines for a second and rubs at his probably already bruising cheek, and then glares down at his crotch. “Don’t you fucking dare. Behave yourself, or I swear I will make you get off to Harris and Finstock for the next _year_.”

When Stiles walks into the loft, Derek is sitting on the couch, typing on his laptop. “Were you talking to yourself?”

Stiles squints at Derek. “Were you trying to eavesdrop on my private conversation?”

Derek doesn’t stop typing as he rolls his eyes at Stiles. “Yes, Stiles. You caught me. That is exactly what I was trying to do.”

“I’ve got your number, dude.” Stiles smiles kicks off his shoes. He flops on the opposite side and stretches his legs out until he can shove his toes under Derek’s thigh. “So. What are you up to?”

“I’m working on the letter Scott talked about. For the Castillo pack.”

 Stiles remembers Scott and Derek talking about the Castillo pack at a recent pack meeting. The co-alphas were tired of constant patrols of the borders that seemed to do nothing to actually keep other supernatural creatures from entering, if the constant stream of baddies fight said anything. The Castillo pack was a large pack that stretches from Northern Arizona, along the eastern side of California, and ends close to the Hale border. If the pack can convince them to join in an alliance, it’ll mean less stress on both Scott and Derek, which meant a happier pack.

Stiles makes grabby hands for the computer. “Awesome, dude! Whatcha got so far?”

Derek brings one hand away from the computer to smack Stiles hands. “Not done yet. Hang on a sec.”

Stiles pulls out the Bestiary from his backpack and settles back on the couch. By the time Derek grabs the Bestiary from Stiles and replaces it with his laptop, Stiles has already read through the section on Werecoyotes and moved on to Werejaguars.

“Read through it for me, make sure it sounds good.” Derek asks (more like demands), moving his legs up and shoving them between Stiles and the couch.

He does a quick double take of Stiles’s face, and his eyebrows scrunch in concern, or possibly judgment. Most likely judgment. “What happened to your face?”

“I fell, Mr. Judgey Brows. Not all of us can be elegant woodland creatures.”

Derek snorts and closes his eyes, stretching his legs out until his toes are pushing at the top of Stiles’s jeans. Stiles clenches his teeth when Derek’s toes unconsciously pull against the waistband –tugging it down slightly, just barely brushing the skin of Stiles’s hip –and gets to work.

_Remember, Finstock and Harris. Lingerie. Lifetime of trauma._

\---

After an hour of arguing with Derek about how he can’t use thinly veiled threats in an invitation for alliance, or how he can’t offer up Liam as a charming pet to the Castillos without Liam’s consent, Stiles is exhausted. He fucking _loves_ arguing with Derek. Derek gets all flustered when he’s told he can’t do whatever he wants. He wrinkles his nose when he thinks Stiles is making a stupid argument. He drops his head back and groans when he’s being a stubborn asshole, which doesn’t help Stiles with the whole _not thinking about boning on the couch_ thing.

Stiles is getting twitchy by the time he’s finished typing passive aggressive comments on the draft. He’s too paranoid about not being quick enough to stop from letting something slip. Derek kicks Stiles when his legs start to bounce too much, and gives Stiles a look. “What the hell is wrong with you today?”

“Didn’t jack off enough.” It’s an easy out. He _hadn’t_ jacked off yet today, so technically, it wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t the reason he couldn’t keep still. He bites his lip to keep from asking if Derek wants to help him work out some of that energy.

Derek closes his eyes, probably asking for strength, before simultaneously grabbing his computer back and kicking Stiles’s legs of the couch. “Sometimes I forget how disgusting you are.” Derek says it fondly –in that he isn’t threatening to rip Stiles’ throat out. Which is pretty fond in Stiles’ book.

“It’s all part of the Stilinski Charm.”

Derek raised an eyebrow, “Stilinski charm?”

“Capital _c,_ Derek. Stilinski Charm. Patent pending.”

 “Go home Stiles. You’re being more annoying than usual.”

“I see how it is. You just want me for my brain.”

“ _Leave_ , Stiles.”

Stiles groans and stands up. He grabs the Bestiary from Derek’s lap and shoves it in his on his way to the loft door. “You’re so nice Derek. I don’t know why more people don’t see it.”

\---

Later that evening, Stiles tackles the Werewolf section of the Bestiary. Most of its pretty standard, nothing that the pack hadn’t already figured out. Stiles was sort of bummed. He was convinced that there had to be some weird sex rituals, at the very least. Derek threw a hammer at Stiles’s head when Stiles had asked about it one day as they were working on the Hale house. It barely missed.

His phone beeps on his pillow, and Stiles slaps his around hand behind him to grab it.

Derek 1/29 9:50p: **You’ll have to look at the letter again before we send it out. Scott added some things.**

Wow, not even a courtesy question mark.

 

1/29: 9:51p: _Sure, whatever. Also, the werewolf section of the Bestiary is super lame._

1/29 9:52p: _And by lame, I mean no sex rituals_.

 

Derek 1/29 9:54p: **I told you that already. We don’t have, or need, any sex rituals, Stiles.**

 

1/29 9:56: _We should. Let’s start a new tradition for wolves everywhere. I’ll even offer my services._

1/29 9:57: _To help plan! Not sexual. NOT SEXUAL._

1/29 9:58: _Derek?_

1/29 9:59: _Derek, I am not offering myself up as a mystical prostitute._

1/29 10:00p: _DEreK_

 

Derek 1/29 10:05p: **I’ll get the letter to you by the weekend.**

Derek 1/29 10:07p: **Or is that also not a service you’re willing to offer?**

 

1/29 10:08p: _It took you twelve minutes to come up with that?_

When Derek doesn’t respond again, Stiles turns back to the Bestiary.

_What is this?_

Stiles grabs his phone starts to send another text to Derek before hesitating. He quickly rewrites the text and sends it to Scott instead.

1/29 10:20p: _Dude, did you court Allison?_

Scott, bless his tech-savvy soul, responds instantly

Scott 1/29 10:21p: **???**

 

Such a great display of the intellectual prowess of the true alpha.

1/29 10:22p: _Did you court Allison? Like, did you bring her gifts before you started dating?_

 

Scott 1/29 10:24p: **I’m poor as balls dude. And, you were there. You know I didn’t.**

Scott 1/29 10:25p: **Unless the pen counts?**

 

1/29 10:26p: _Dude, knowing you two, the pen was probably the only courting gift you needed._

 

Scott 1/29 10:27p: **I’m gonna take that as a compliment. And I still have no idea what you’re talking about.**

 

1/29 10:28p: _I’m talking about you’re little wolf wanting to give things to Allison._

 

Scott 1/29 10:29p: **Dude**

 

1/29 10:30p: _You know that is NOT what I meant, Scotty. Have you ever been compelled to bring Allison stuff on the moons? Like, a bunny? Or a squirrel?_

 

Scott 1/29 10:33p: **Allison would shoot me if I did that. So, no.**

Scott 1/29 10:34p: **Why?!**

 

1/29 10:35p: _Read about it in the Bestiary._

 

Scott 1/29 10:36p: **Is it a weird sex thing?**

 

Stiles smiles at his phone.

1/29 10:39p: _Bestiary doesn’t mention any. :(_

 

Scott 1/29 10:39p: **Dude, lame.**

Scott 1/29 10:40p: **…Why aren’t you asking Derek about it?**

 

1/29 10:40p: _I would, but I already asked about the sex rituals, and I don’t really wanna see how much I can annoy him._

 

Scott 1/29 10:41p: **Dude, nice subtle way to ask if he’s dtf.**

 

1/29 10:41p: _Lies anD SLAndER_. _That is NOT what I was doing Scott._

 

Scott 1/29 10:43p: **What does the Bestiary say about it?**

 

1/29 10:45p: _It’s like, a paragraph. Not a lot to go on. I think it’s gifts? And like, providing? For the mate’s pack??_

 

1/29 10:46p: _It all seems very Victorian and melodramatic and over the top._

 

Scott 1/29 10:48p: **Dude, that sounds right up your alley then.**

Stiles wants to be offended, but it’s true. He tried, and failed, to court Lydia for years. When his relationship with Malia started to go south, he tried to court her as well, to woo the romance back into their relationship. It ended up making everything worse, because he realized he had no idea what Malia was into, what stuff she liked, other than _deer_. But yeah, the whole prove-yourself-as-a-mate thing was right up his alley. He’s actually surprised he hasn’t tried it with Derek yet –

_Oh._

_Scott’s a genius_.

1/29 10:50: _Scotty, you are a genius._

 

Scott 1/29 10:51p: **;) I know.**

Scott 1/29 10:52p: **Why am I a genius?**

 

1/29 10:53p: _I’m going to court Derek_.

 

Scott 1/29 10:55p: **Um, that’s not what I said dude.**

Scott 1/29 10:56p: **Also, what?**

Scott 1/29 10:58p: **Stiles…Stiles what are you doing right now?**

Scott 1/29 11:00p: **Stiles, dude, answer me. This is Defgate 6 or whatever.**

 

Stiles ignores Scott and moves to his desk, minimizing one of his gaming windows to open up Groupons. He had some planning to do. _Defgate 6_. He takes back the genius comment. Scott is obviously too ignorant to function.

His phone keeps buzzing next to him, but he ignores it, looking through deals on romantic stuff. He doubts Derek’s cool getting a couples massage, but $15 off group admission to laser tag under group outings sounds fun. And he knows Derek likes laser tag from one of the many conversations they had while working on the Hale House.

Stiles’s skype starts beeping and he answers it automatically, “What’s up, Scotty boy?”

“Dude, what do you mean you’re going to court Derek?”

“I mean what I say. I’m gonna court your co-alpha. I’m gonna court him so hard he’ll forget he can barely tolerate me.”

“You don’t even know what courting is, dude.”

Stiles snorts and clicks on another deal –a meal for two at one of Beacon Height’s fancier restaurants. He debates for a second if he can actually get Derek into a fancy restaurant without having to lie, before shrugging and clicking it anyways. He’ll make up something if he has to.

“You’re not even listening to me right now, are you?”

Stiles blinks at Scott, because yeah, he totally forgot he was supposed to be listening to him. “No, I’m really not.”

“Dude, what if courting means you want to have Derek’s wolf babies or whatever?”

Stiles raises an eyebrow at Scott. “Um, dude, I’m already helping him raise his puppies right now?”

Scott makes a slicing motion with one of his hands, “No man, like, you want to have his _babies_. Like with weird wolf-y magic, you having his babies, being knocked up, barefoot and in the kitchen.”

“Why am I barefoot and in the kitchen in this analogy?”

“Because, dude, that’s probably what he wants!”

“Derek wants me barefoot? Is that a kink of his? And am I just only allowed in the kitchen? Or am I not allowed to _leave_ the kitchen?”

Scott groans and throws something at his computer screen, probably a dirty sock, before interrupting Stiles before he can get a proper rant going. “Shut up dude. Stop trying to change the topic. You don’t know what werewolf courting means. So, what if you start courting Derek, and it leads to something you’re not ready for? And, why can’t you just ask him out, like a normal person?”

Stiles leans back in his chair and starts to bite at the skin around his thumb. “Because if Derek doesn’t know I’m courting him, then he can’t reject me. And I can get him out of my system. It’s a win-win.”

Scott still looks confused, his eyebrows scrunched “Why are you doing this if you think he won’t say yes?”

Stiles drops the thumb from his mouth and purses his lips, levelling Scott with a _bitch please_ look. His friend might not be book smart, but he’s definitely people smart, and he _knows_ why Stiles just can’t _ask Derek out_.

“One does not just simply _ask Derek Hale out_.”

“Why not? He’s normal-ish. He’s less likely to rip your throat out now then he used to be.”

“That’s sort of the reason, Scotty. He tolerates me, but he doesn’t want all up in this,” Stiles motions to himself, and Scott scrunches his nose in distaste, “Don’t front. If you weren’t 100% straight and basically married to Allison, you’d want some of the Stiles.”

“Yeah, of course dude.” Scott nods his head seriously, like this was a given fact.

Stiles has the best bro.

“But Derek doesn’t. And, we already know my infatuations get really intense. So, what’s the best way to get over Derek, and _not_ be epically humiliated? Stealth court him.”

“But what if he finds out?”

Stiles laughs and shakes his head. _Oh Scott_. “He’s not going to find out.”

“But what if he does?”

“He won’t.”

“Stiles, seriously. What if he does?”

“That would require him to actually want to acknowledge _feelings_ , which he’d never voluntarily do. He’d rather swallow wolfsbane and kiss Jackson then talk about emotions. But if he finds out? Well, I have time to figure out a spell to make him forget all about it.”

“Wow dude.”

“Do not judge me, Scott McCall. It’s either this or have to deal with the alpha care-bear-glare for the rest of my life.”

“Why don’t you think Derek would say yes?”

“ _Because_ , dude, just because. Now, can we please stop the whole _give stiles a confidence boost_ thing and focus on how I am going to stealth court him?”

“I just want it to be on record that I said this was a bad idea and you should just ask him out.”

“Ok Scott, I’ll make sure to record it on the ledger.” Stiles rolls his eyes when Scott nods.

“Good. Now, what have you got already?”

\---

Three hours and an Adderall later, Stiles and Scott had come up with a game plan for the next two weeks.

The first day or so would be about proving he can protect the pack. Scott helped come up with the idea, pointing out that Derek was more paranoid about the pack being safe than anything else.

There are runes Stiles can carve around the Hale house and loft to keep intruders off the property; there’s a spell Deaton has been helping him with that’ll ward the boundaries of the territory, making it so the pack doesn’t have to do nightly runs.

“Dude, this is actually pretty stealth. I’m impressed,” Stiles says, looking at the spreadsheet he had started that laid out what would be happening on which day.

 “Still think you should just ask him out. He could say yes!”

“I’m going to hang up now, Scott. I think you fell asleep while talking again, because what you’re saying right now sounds a whole lot like nonsense.”

“Whatever dude, see you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Aw, love you too sweet cheeks.”

Stiles hung up after blowing Scott a teasing kiss and shut his computer down. He stands up and stretches, feeling good about his plan. Was it the coward’s way out? Yes. But it’s also the safest. The cost-benefits analysis would prove that this was the best way, despite what Scott said.

Stiles got ready for bed, putting on t-shirt he had stolen from Derek the last time they fought a baddie. His shirt had been covered in green slime-blood, and he had bitched and moaned until Derek and thrown a fading BHS Basketball shirt at Stiles, telling him to shut up and get out of his house. Even after a few weeks, the shirt still smelled like Derek.

When Stiles fell asleep that night, he absolutely did not dream about laying in Derek’s bed at the loft, listening to the pack downstairs making a mess in the kitchen, with Derek’s arms wrapped tightly around him, refusing to let him out of bed to go monitor them. He did not dream about Derek whispering in his ear about letting the pack figure it out for themselves –whatever it was –telling Stiles to go back to sleep.

 _He didn’t_. And anybody that said so was a damned, dirty liar.

\---

The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. Derek hovered over Stiles’ shoulder, watching as he carved the runes into the foundation, exposed framework, and each doorframe that led from the outside in. He even carried Stiles’ stepping stool he was using to reach the tops of each doorframe, saying that Stiles needed to focus more on walking while holding a sharp knife rather than carrying a stool.

“If you end up slicing your wrists open because you tripped, your father is going to shoot me full of wolfsbane.”

“It’s cute that you’re so scared of my father. Really, it is.”

“I am not _scared_ of your father. I don’t like being shot. No normal person does. In fact, most people actively avoid getting shot.”

“Pfft, whatever, scaredy wolf. Bring my stools over here, I need to do the kitchen door.”

When Stiles was getting ready to carve the final rune, he turned to Derek. “I’m going to need you for this one.”

Derek carefully put the stool at Stiles’ feet and glanced suspiciously at the knife in Stiles’ hand, “What do I need to do?”

“Just put your hand on the doorframe, scardey-wolf, and flash your eyes. I’ll carve the rune around your hand.”

Derek stared at Stiles for a second before nodding and putting his hand on the doorframe. When Derek let his eyes bleed red, Stiles quickly stepped on the stool to carve the rune around the edges of Derek’s hand.

When Stiles finishes, he grabs Derek’s hand to pull it from the frame, letting his fingers linger a bit before dropping it. Stiles tucks the knife into its sheath before putting it into his back pocket. He glances up at Derek, who’s staring at the house. Derek takes his hand and rubs it over the rune. Stiles feels a warmth settle in his chest from the feedback he gets.

“It’s happy,” Stiles says, watching Derek trace the lines of the rune, “The magic. It’s happy. Magic likes to do things. It like it even more when it’s something good, like protection runes. So –um, yeah. Happy magic.” Stiles held his hands out and waggled his fingers in a _ta-da_ motion.

Derek snorted and dropped his hand from the door. “Well, so long as the magic’s happy, that’s all that matters.”

“You’re happy too, right?” Stiles asked, bumping his shoulder against Derek’s, “Or are you too emotionally constipated to feel anything other than melancholy.”

“My life is just a black abyss, and it's suffocating me.” Derek deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest.

Stiles laughs, “Did you seriously just quote the _emo song_ at me?”

Derek gives Stiles a small smile before turning and heading down the porch steps. “Laura kept stealing my phone and making it my ringtone when we were in New York.”

Stiles followed Derek down the steps to Roscoe. He climbs in, reaching over to pop the lock for Derek. “Well, she obviously had fabulous taste,” Stiles says, turning on the jeep, cooing. He praises it when it turned on the first time. He makes a u-turn in front of the house and starts to head off the property.

Stiles starts to tap his fingers against the steering wheel, restless to fill up the silence. “I’m gonna swing by the gas station before we meet Deaton at the border. Now, I’m going to ask you a serious question. You’re not allowed to answer until we get there, because you’ll need that time to think about your answer. Got it?”

Stiles sneaks a glance at Derek, who had begun to fiddle with Roscoe’s radio, trying to make it play something other than static and mariachi music, “Just ask the question Stiles.”

“What flavor slurpee do you want? Your answer to this will determine our friendship. And no, before you ask, _blood of your enemies_ isn’t an option.”

Stiles felt Derek glare at him, and he smiled, until Derek turned the mariachi music to full blast in retaliation.

\---

The spell with Deaton also went off without a hitch. It was just a simple spell to bind the land to the Hale Pack, making the magic more aware of the borders of Beacon Hills.

“So that whenever an intruder enters the territory, they know for certain that the land is claimed,” Deaton explained.

Stiles watches Derek as Deaton continues to explain what the spell is doing. Derek looks almost _high_. His eyes were dropping, his normally guarded and tight stance was loose and open. He looks the most relaxed Stiles had ever seen him, _and it was because of magic Stiles was doing_. And not having to worry about the edges of the almost-too-big-to-handle territory. But still. _Because of Stiles_.

Derek clears his throat and tries to straighten up, but he still looks so open and awe-struck. Stiles wants to wrap him up in something. _Like me,_ Stiles thinks. He wants to keep putting that look on Derek’s face. Many different ways. Caused by many different positions.

 _Harris and Finstock. With Barney the janitor watching while jerking off and crying_.

“Is there anything I can do?” Derek asked, causing Stiles to jump and freak out for second, wondering if he had said something out loud just now. Both Derek and Deaton ignore him.

“No, nothing other than taking care of the territory. Which,” Deaton says, turning to leave, “I’m sure you won’t have a problem with.”

With that, Deaton leaves them, and Stiles moves to stand next to Derek.

“Thank you.”

Stiles turned to look at Derek, who was staring at the cheery _Leaving Beacon Hills. Come again!_ sign. “Yeah, um…no –no problem.”

Derek continues to stand there, taking deep breaths. Stiles assumes it’s to help him calm down. He moves closer to Derek, until they’re a breadth away, and reaches his hand out to grab Derek’s shoulder. He squeezes until he feels Derek relax, and then he just rests it there, lets Derek use him to anchor himself.


End file.
